Love, Save the Empty
by brittany0388
Summary: A boy incapable of independence. A girl who thrives on her own. Can Bella show Edward life outside the control of his overprotective mother?
1. Chapter 1

**Sadly, I don't own Twilight, but Stephenie Meyer does. **

"We will be doing this project in pairs, I have chosen your partners randomly, and they will be posted at the front of the room at the end of class. The papers getting passed around right now explain your assignment, along with the grading scale. This project will count as half of your final grade. I know not everyone is a fan of group work or having to depend on another person to complete things, but when you're out in the business world you will deal with having to depend on others." Professor Banner stated as he walked around the front of the lecture hall.

"The handout that you have in front of you also lists important dates for the project, you will be meeting with me on alternate Friday's during office hours to go over what you have done and any questions or concerns you may have. After I'm finished you can come up and see your pairing, I'll also be emailing the list to you that will include the contact information you provided during the first week of class. You need to meet with your partner before your appointment during my office hours and have a brainstorming session. I'll be available during the day this entire week both in my office and by email and my office telephone. There is no excuse to come into your meeting empty handed. If you foresee yourself having issues, get in touch with me as soon as possible."

The shuffling of papers signified that class had ended and everyone pushed their way up to the front of the room, hoping to be paired with one of their friends in the class, or to not be paired with a slacker. Bella sat quietly packing up her belongs while she waited for the crowd die down, she began to stand when a textbook flew beneath her chair.

"What the f-." She started, but cut herself off when she felt someone standing behind her. "I take it this is yours." She said holding the book out as she got a look at the person for the first time. He was tall and slightly lanky; his appearance highlighted by his outdated clothes that resembled those of her father.

"Thanks." He replied, not making eye contact with her at all in the exchange.

"No problem." Bella answered as she shrugged her shoulders. The shy boy remained where he stood as Bella slid the straps of her backpack on.

"Good luck on the project. Partners always suck. I always get stuck with the kid who never wants to do anything. Fingers crossed that I actually get a decent one this time." Bella spoke, trying to make light of his tense posture.

Bella saw his mouth curve up into a small smile. His head was still angled at the floor. His only response was a shake of his head. He made no move to make eye contact with her or further the conversation. He appeared to be unsure or embarrassed with their confrontation.

Bella smiled and then proceeded to the front of the room. As she got closer to the front she noticed the awkward boy from seconds earlier shuffling down the steps behind her. She silently prayed that she wouldn't get stuck with him or someone like him. She scanned the list looking for her name, hoping to find a familiar name beside hers, one of the few people she had befriended in the class. She continued scanning the list until she landed on her name.

_Swan, Isabella; Cullen, Edward._

Bella didn't recognize the name as any of those that she was familiar with in the class, which held roughly one-hundred students.

"Well, this should be interesting." She sighed before heading out of the classroom to make her way home.

While finishing up her homework for the next day's classes Bella received an email from Professor Banner with more detail than what was posted at the end of her class. It had the contact information of her partner listed. She though briefly about emailing Edward Cullen so they could get a head start on their impending project, but decided against it.

"This can wait until after dinner." She said to herself as she printed and saved her work.

Ten minutes later she was alerted to an additional new email.

**From: Cullen, Edward** (ecullen(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**To: Swan, Isabella** (swani(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**Subject:** Business Management 105 Project

_Isabella,_

_Hello. Professor Banner emailed our project information at 5:37 p.m. so I'm contacting you to arrange a Business Management 105 meeting that will allow us to brainstorm for potential project topics. I am free to meet with you in the evenings. I have scheduled study time at the library after my afternoon classes from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. that I cannot miss. I can meet with you until no later than 5 p.m. as I need to be home for dinner at 6 p.m. I have a cellular telephone that I use for emergencies; it is listed in Professor Banner's email as well. I can be reached on my home telephone as well, but not after 8 p.m. because my family settles in for the night at that time._

_Thank you,_

_Edward A. Cullen_

Bella continued to reread the email, unsure of what to think of the awkward communication from the equally as awkward boy, guy, man, however you would refer to him as. _Dinner time with his family? Cellular telephone? Settling in for the night? _Edward sounded more like a 40 year-old man than a young college student. Chuckling at the unusual wording and unnecessary details within the email Bella hit the reply button, typing away.

**From: Cullen, Edward** (ecullen(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**To: Swan, Isabella** (swani(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**Subject:** RE: Business Management 105 Project

_Edward,_

_I'll be at the library for most of tomorrow if you would like to meet up. You can just send me a text letting me know when you would like to meet. I'll have a study room reserved if you would like to join me. I'm mostly only free on in the evenings, so we might have an issue there. We'll figure it out when we meet. _

_Bella_

As Bella finished at her computer she heard her front door unlock. In walked her roommate Alice with a pizza.

"I have dinner." She sang, the clank of her heels echoing as she reached the kitchen.

Bella joined Alice in the kitchen, taking out two plates for them.

"How was your day?" Bella questioned as she went about filling their plates.

"It was so long, I thought it would never end. I had to have lunch with Jasper's mom in between classes. I had to listen to her complain for two hours about how Jazz was wasting his time studying history when he could join the family business. Two hours of that mixed in with her wanting to know about our relationship. What am I supposed to say? Yes, Mrs. Whitlock, things are great. We went out on a date last night and your son rocked my world twice. I think not." She said mimicking what I'm assuming Jasper's mother would sound like. "Oh, but on a bright my professor postponed our textiles test until next week. She's having relationship issues and doesn't feel like dealing with tests."

"She said that?"

"Not exactly in those words, but you definitely got the vibe." She said pausing to chew a bite.

Alice and Jasper started dating at the beginning of the summer and really hit it off. One thing Alice didn't expect was his overzealous mother who viewed every new day in their relationship as one day closer to their wedding.

Talk about pressure.

"What about you? How was your day? You look a little tense."

"I have a project due at the end of the semester for one of my introductory business classes. It's worth half of my grade and from the weird email I just received from my partner he seems a little socially inept. "

"Nice." Alice laughed extending the word longer than necessary. "You got paired up with _that _kid. He probably hooks his cell phone on his belt and has an obnoxiously loud default ringtone."

"You're judging this kid you've never met based on his cell phone etiquette? He refers to it as cellular telephone, by the way." Alice's laughing came out are as snort.

"Who's judging now? I at least judged him without the use of sarcasm."

"I'm not judging, just curious."

"You never know he might be one of those hot, shy boys just waiting for a special someone to let loose."

"This isn't a harlequin novel Ali, it's a business management class."

"Whatevs- I'm just saying." She said grabbing her discarded purse as she walked back to her room.

Bella rolled her eyes in response. Alice failed to realize that not everyone's life outlined like a TV sitcom, not every scenario is meant to be a fairytale.

The ding of her phone alerted her to an email. Rather than ruin her eyesight even more she opted to check it on her computer.

**From: Cullen, Edward** (ecullen(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**To: Swan, Isabella** (swani(at)u(dot)washington(dot)edu)

**Subject:** Project Meeting Issues

_Isabella,_

_I will send you text by email to let you know when I arrive at the library. I prefer to study alone so I will not be joining you in your study session. My study session will end at 4:00 p.m. so we can meet then. We can meet by the reference desk at roughly 4:02 p.m. because it will take that long to pack up my belongings and walk to meet you._

_Thank You,_

_Edward A. Cullen_

Bella shook her head at the email before closing her computer. She fell back on her bed taking in her awkward conversation with Edward Cullen. Her thoughts then went to the boy from earlier in the day. She had never noticed him in the class before and judging by his demeanor she wasn't surprised. Why wouldn't he make eye contact with her when she spoke to him? Why was she even thinking about it?

Bella was startled by the appearance of Alice in her doorway. "I'm going to the grocery store, you want to go with me?" She said leaning against the door frame.

"Actually yeah, I do. I need new razor cartridges... it's getting out of control."

"Eww, Bells, that's nasty. Waxing is your friend."

"I think I'll pass. That's a lot of trust put into a complete stranger that's going to be all up in my lady business."

"You would say that." Alice jokingly scowled as she started up her car.

Minutes later they were at the local grocery store strolling through the aisles.

"Bella, will you grab some tampons when you get your razors? I need to go pick up something for Jasper."

Bella pushed the cart a few aisles down looking for her items. As she turned the corner she recognized the awkward boy from earlier in class. He was standing next to an older woman, presumably his mother. They were speaking quietly as they stared at personal hygiene items. He picked up a package of razor cartridges, tossing them into his cart.

Realizing she had been staring, Bella went to pick out Alice's tampons before hearing the women with him speak.

"Why would you pick those out, you know you always use this kind." She said handing him the product she held in her hands.

He spoke softly to her in his reply. "I-I- just t-thought it would be nice to try something new."

"Nonsense, you already know you like this one, put the other back."

"Yes ma'am." He answered her looking at the ground.

Bella thought it was odd that a grown man would allow his mother to continue to decide what was best from him beyond his teenage years. She felt sort of bad for him he was obviously shy and unsure of himself. That made her really begin to think about the boy, wondering if he made it a habit of never making eye contact during conversation.

She then tried to come up with reasons for avoidance. Did he have some weird facial deformity? Is that the reason he didn't like making eye contact? It couldn't have been just her he didn't make eye contact with he didn't look at the woman who Bella believed to be his mother either.

Why was he so weird? You can't just ask people why they're weird, so maybe he doesn't know he's weird.

An unattractive laugh escaped Bella's mouth when she realized her unintentional 'Mean Girls' reference.

_Karen, you can't just ask people why they're white._

This ushered in a whole new thought process.

He probably had probably never seen the movie 'Mean Girls' nor did he know who Linsday Lohan was. Not that not knowing who she was would be considered bad. She began to wonder if he let his mother walk all over him. If so, she probably controlled all of the other important aspects of his life.

Bella froze momentarily. Thinking that she probably looked like a crazy person with the random burst of laughter and the head nodding she turned back to pretending to look at products. Why did she even care?

So he was a little different. Not everyone had to fit some conventional, stereotypical form. She thought about what he would be faced with this semester with the project Professor Banner had assigned. If he struggled to speak with her today when she was just being polite in returning his flying book, his world would be turned upside down when he was forced to depend on a fellow classmate.

As the awkward boy and the lady accompanying him moved farther down the aisle Bella snapped out of her borderline stalker-ish fantasies and continued her shopping.

She had all but forgotten the stammering, awkward boy from earlier until she heard another voice howl from the far end of the aisle.

"If it isn't Mrs. Cullen, how are you dear? I feel like it's been ages." Bella's head shot up from the eavesdropped conversation.

No. Fucking. Way.

This was Edward Cullen.

**Please review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello! Thank you for the reviews and story alerts. I'm aiming to update once a week-mostly on the weekend.**

**This is all SM's, I'm just borrowing her characters!**

Bella woke up the next morning earlier than anticipated. For someone who never obsessed about time she had looked at the clock on her phone 3 times before breakfast.

"Maybe he's cool. Maybe I just caught him on an off day? Maybe he's not the weird, awkward kid I judged him as. A 15 second one-sided conversation and 10 minutes of creepily stalking him in the hygiene aisle didn't mean I was peering deep into his soul."

Bella paused before looking in the mirror.

"I'm having a conversation with myself, my god I am so my mother."

"Why am I being such a girl? I don't have to be friends with him. He's just a stupid boy," she thought to herself.

"No, not a stupid boy…that would be bad. Hopefully he's like a genius. Oh…maybe that's why he's so different… he's so smart he doesn't know how to function around normal IQ's."

"Who's a genius?"

Bella jumped at hearing Alice speak. She wasn't aware that she had actually said that out loud.

"I'm just talking to myself."

"Ok, well can you talk to yourself a little faster? And put some pants on while you're at it, we're going to be late," Alice shouted walking away from Bella's room and out to the kitchen.

Bella gathered up her binder for Professor Banner's class along with her stuff for her late morning history class. She grabbed breakfast to go and was headed out the door to meet Alice at her car. 

Bella made it to Alice's car door before she realized her laptop was left sitting on her desk.

"Shit, I forgot my laptop."

"Bella we're already 15 minutes late, I needed to be in Environment Science class like 5 minutes ago."

"Fuck, I'm sorry Alice," Bella said situating herself.

"Wait a second, today's Wednesday you don't have Environmental Science on Wednesday's."

"Ok, so maybe that's an exaggeration, it's my way of saying you're slow as shit this morning and I need to make it to student affairs before the line is out the door."

"Sorry, I'll just check one out at the library and save everything to my USB."

"You are a mess this morning Bells, did you have a Netflix bender last night and forget to invite me?"

"No, I'm just worried about this stupid business management project. I don't know what to expect. You know how group projects are. I don't want to be stuck with the douche that sticks you with everything and then they make the cover page and act like what they did was earth-shattering."

"It'll be fine. I mean at least your partner didn't email you in ebonics or something equally as mortifying. Maybe he just has a love for the English language and having precise time," Alice laughed as she pulled into campus.

"All right, I'm off to history class, call me if you're still here for lunch and we can meet up."

"Will do, what time do I need to pick you up tonight?"

"I'll text you after my library thing," Bella yelled as she got closer to her history class.

Bella took her assigned seat in the front of the room. She hated it when teachers assigned seats. The front and the back were the worst places to be because teachers focused in on those students when it came to answering questions. It was also harder to use her cell phone as a distraction.

_Cellular telephone._

Bella snorted at the thought.

"Is something funny over there?" The professor asked, pausing to look down at his seating chart as if it had the effect of making his verbal chastisement of her more effective before continuing "Miss. Swan."

"No sir, absolutely not," she answered as her face reddened. The class was small to begin with, but it became even smaller when all eyes were focused on the person that unintentionally caused a distraction.

"Very well then," he responded walking away from her side of the room. "As I said last class we are going to review for your test on Friday. If you haven't completed your assigned readings yet, I strongly suggest you do so."

Bella pulled out her notebook and grabbed a pencil. She knew all about how Professor Black worked. He liked to play hard-ass, but in reality his class was the easiest one her friend Angela had ever taken at the university. His tests were always comprised of 50 questions and they were always in the same order. He started with multiple choice, then matching, following by fill in the blank and were concluded with 2 short essay questions. They were always in that order and he always went over the test word for word in the class before the exam.

There were only a few minutes left in class after the review thus causing people to start making noise. The unzipping of bags, the closing of notebooks, the annoying sound the desk tops made when students tried to slyly lower them, which in actuality only made the sound twenty times louder filled the room.

"Make sure you reread anything you were unsure of and don't just rely on your notes."

Apparently Professor Black didn't get that they were all in his class because he was the easiest teacher for this course. They knew he was too invested in his much younger girlfriend to actually devote time to changing his tests.

Bella pulled her phone from her back pocket.

_11:15 a.m_

She walked into the student union and grabbed the school newspaper, deciding to solve today's Sudoku to kill some time before lunch. Bella was startled by the clanking of a tray in front of her.

"Hey pretty lady, wanna come to my van? I've got candy," her high school friend Mike Newton said in a sleazy tone.

"Ooo.. depends do you have skittles?"

"If by skittles you mean Top Ramen, then yes, I have them in every flavor," he chuckled taking a seat across from her.

"What's up? You're usually not in here when I am."

"I had to meet at the library this morning for my psych project. We met at 8:30 this morning, who does that? Actually they wanted to meet at 7:30 and I put my foot down. No way was I rolling out of bed that early for something that would only take an hour."

"How's the roommate situation going?"

"He pissed in our mini-fridge Saturday night."

"So glad I don't live in the dorms."

"It's not that bad, I mean he cleaned it up so it's all good."

Shortly after Mike finished his lunch he and Bella parted ways. She grabbed her lunch to go and went to reserve her study room at the library. Stopping at the technology desk Bella checked out a computer for the afternoon and settled in to her private sanctuary for the next few hours.

Just like when her day started Bella continued looking at her phone waiting for communication from Edward Cullen. Waiting for the text or email or however he was planning to contact her.

At exactly 4:00 p.m. the chime of her phone alerted her to a new email. There was no short hand or 'I'm here.'

_Isabella,_

_I am located on the third floor of the library where the study rooms are located. I am unsure of which room you are in because I do not know what you look like. Could you notify me by responding to my email and tell me where you are located?_

_Thank You, _

_Edward A. Cullen_

Bella quickly replied telling him that she had reserved room 338, the smaller of the study rooms. 45 seconds and a timid knock later she was face to face with Edward Cullen. Not exactly face to face, face to hair? His head was bowed down as he stood rigidly in the door frame.

"Edward?" She asked even though she knew that's who he was.

'I'm Edward Cullen, you're Isabella Swan correct?" He said, his eyes meeting hers for the first time.

Bella took the sight of him in for the first time.

"This is room 338 correct? I'm terribly sorry if I have the wrong room, I didn't mean to be late, I was unable to make it in the time I allotted myself-" he mumbled.

Bella looked down at her phone.

4:07 p.m.

"You're good; I was just finishing up some other stuff."

She realized it had taken entirely too long to respond to his question of her name.

"You're in the right room, I'm Bella."

They remained in the same awkward stances, she seated and him standing as close to the door as possible. "Take a seat," she offered with a hand motion.

Edward nodded at her and pulled his necessary materials once seated.

"So, how do you like Professor Banner's class?" Bella asked trying to break the ice.

"It's a very informational class in the beginning steps of properly managing and operating a business," he responded in an extremely mono-tone voice.

"Huh," Bella responded and then quickly added to her statement, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable. "It is a _very_ informational class."

Bella got the feeling that Edward was a constant state of uncomfortable around his peers.

"How long have you been at UW?"

"We really should get started on our project," he said abruptly. "We need to brainstorm and decide how we're going to go about creating this plan."

Bella bit the inside of her lip to stop her from saying what was really going through her head.

"Was that your mom with you at the grocery store last night?"

Bella's eyes widened at the question that had escaped her lips.

"_Fuck my life,"_ She spoke to herself.

Apparently Bella was incapable of keeping her thoughts to herself.

Bella internally cursed, so much for relying on the inside of her lip to block her internal filter.

"How do you know my whereabouts at the local grocery store last evening?"

"I went shopping with my roommate and I recognized you from class that day, you know the whole flying book fiasco?"

"Shopping with your room-mate?" he stated, his over pronunciation of the word made it sound more like a question.

"Roommate, you know the person that shares half of the bills and makes it their job to annoy the ever loving shit out of you while being awesome all at the same time?"

Bella noticed Edward flinch at her use of a curse word.

"I know what a roommate is," He stated, sounding slightly aggravated.

"I didn't mean anything by, I just wasn't sure if you were familiar with the term. "

"Can we please just stay on topic, I have a lot of things to complete this week and I would like to be as productive and resourceful with my time as possible, and that includes getting ahead with this project."

"Yeah, sure," Bella answered glancing down at the handout from the previous day's class.

Bella questioned his familiarity of business and brands and how they had fared within the past year due to the economic downturn.

"Are there any brands that you use that your family has eliminated within the past year?"

"My mother does the shopping, I will check with her this evening and ask her what her opinion is on this matter."

A few silent seconds later and Bella's inability to remain quiet came to light again.

"Do you always allow your mom to make your decisions for you?" The question was meant in a curious, non-offensive manner. It wasn't until Bella heard herself speak the words that she realized how they came across.

"_Fuck my mother fucking life. Is this real life right now? Stop speaking Bella. Just shut the fuck up before you really give him a reason to be creeped out by you" _she once again silently spoke to herself.

Realizing she needed to say something to fill the awkward silence she spoke.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. Or offend you," she stammered.

Bella took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "Strictly on topic," she said clicking her pencil.

Inside she was dying to know what the answer to her question was.

Edward simply acted like she had never asked the inappropriate question to begin with and ignored her.

"We need to develop a business plan for a company that is currently perceived to be failing or declining in popularity. The business needs to be approved by Professor Banner in order for us to continue with the development of said plan. This needs to include all the necessary steps in developing this plan in extensive detail. We need to anticipate and list potential flaws, and the negative and positive aspects of in each step."

Bella stood up and went to the white board behind her.

"Ok, so suggestions on what business we should use," Bella said before she began to write suggestions on the black board. "What do you think?"

"I think those are all going to be the first examples our classmates use because they overuse the Internet and are incapable of thinking independently."

Bella was taken aback by his words. Did he just insult her? Was he even aware that he did? She couldn't say anything in response. Her lack of verbal filter had already caused her to make him uncomfortable twice in less than five minutes.

"Ok, well why don't we make a few guidelines of what we want to do, what kind of approach we want to take. "

"That's the idea of the assignment Isabella," he answered with an irritated look of confusion on his face.

"Could you stop looking at me like you want to stab your pencil into my jugular? It's making me uneasy," Bella remarked as she put the lid back on her dry erase marker.

"What? I don't even have a pencil in my hand, it's an eraser and it's not nearly sharp enough to injure you in that manner."

Bella rubbed her hands over her face, surely smearing what little make up she had on.

"Edward we're going to be spending a lot of time together whether we like it or not, it would be helpful if we could at least attempt to be friends."

"Friends?" He questioned like it was such a foreign concept.

"Two people who are polite to each other and communicate effectively."

Edward's signature emotionless face told Bella he was not amused at her unnecessary explanation.

"I'm aware of what the definition of the word friend is."

_The question was did he actually have any? That weren't related to him or obligated in any way._

"I know that I say inappropriate things, most of which are at inappropriate times. It's a flaw of mine." She said taking her seat across from him. "The success of this project depends on our ability to tolerate a few hours of each other during the week so we can turn in a perfect business plan at the end of the semester."

Edward continued to sit silently staring at the wall behind her.

"I'm sorry if I offended you earlier with the question about your mom. I just saw you there with her and you looked sad. I thought you might need a friend. You seem really shy so I get it, but you can never have too many friends, I mean that's what college is all about. It's a whole new experience, you do stuff that you know you should regret but don't."

"What day and time do you want to meet again?" Edward asked bypassing everything Bella had said to him.

"Right," Bella said rolling her eyes at the wall. She was aggravated with herself and her inability to say the right thing. Why would he want to tell all of his deep dark secrets to the rude girl who called him out for not speaking and having a pushy mother?

"I can only meet between four and five until we get further in the project, then it will have to be earlier in the mornings," Edward remarked in a less than conversational tone.

"I can't do mornings, I have all early morning to mid afternoon classes. I can do evenings though," Bella responded with an equal amount of attitude.

"I can't do evenings, as per my email to you."

"Yeah, family time or whatever."

"Everyone should enjoy the company of their family at meal time, you should do the same," Edward said innocently.

"I have a dead father and a mother that's thousands of miles away, not everyone gets a happily ever after," Bella said hurt by his words.

Edward glanced around the room avoiding Bella's line of sight, but didn't apologize.

"Mornings aren't going to work for me and an hour doesn't leave us much time seeing as how we got nothing done today. Be prepared to give up a few family dinners," Bella replied shoving her items in her bag.

They both stood across from each other, maintaining eye contact until the ring of Bella's phone interrupted them.

"Just a second," Bella turned away from him to answer Alice's call. Alice was a few minutes away from campus to pick her up. "Just text when you're there and I'll walk down," She responded before hanging up.

"Do you need a ride home or something?" Bella asked looking up at him.

"No, I have arranged for a ride home, I do not need you to take me," he answered her.

Edward obviously didn't appreciate Bella's eagerness to speak of the elephant in the room. His social awkwardness was something that he wanted to avoid. To pretend as if it didn't exist, to ignore the fact that his life was much different than hers.

Bella was determined to figure him out.

Edward's hushed voice broke her out of her thoughts.

"Isabella, I do not wish to speak to you when it doesn't involve our partnership in this project. " Edward answered her as he reached the door. "Friendships are just distractions, and it would just be best to decide this now." He said with an awkward nod of his head as his eyes fell to the floor.

"Yeah, ok." Bella said to his retreating form, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

Maybe it wasn't Edward that needed this friendship so much, but Bella.

As Bella clutched her bag to her shoulder she walked to the parking garage to meet Alice. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her partner walking from the side opposite of her. He was getting into a car with the woman she recognized from yesterday, his mother.

Their eyes briefly made contact before they quickly looked anywhere else but at each other.

Bella couldn't help but wonder how they were going to manage the next few weeks together.

He was going to be a challenge, and she was definitely up for it.

**A/N: Next chapter we hear from Edward.**

**Love it? Hated it? Let me know. **

**Reviews = A teaser for the next chapter.**

**A little O/T but Professor Black's history class is taken from my own personal experience with a teacher who thought we never caught on about how his tests/reviews were going to be.**

**Also, Mike's roommate who has an affinity for peeing in refrigerators? Also taken from personal experience.**

**We've all had to do group work at one time or the other, so my question to you, what's your group work horror story?**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks so much for the kind reviews! As usual, I don't own Twilight.**

**

* * *

**

Edward sat silently in the passenger seat of his mother's car, watching the scenery as it passed by him.

"How was your day, sweetheart?" His mother asked.

"I had class and then after that I spent time in the library where I studied for my literature exam next week. I also took notes for my business plan project, which I am working on with another person."

"You mentioned that last evening. Your partner isn't putting all the work on you, is he? You can't let some worthless classmate think that they can take it easy because your intelligence can carry them to an A. You're not letting that happen, are you?" Esme barked as she glanced at her son.

"Edward?" She questioned abruptly, causing him to jump.

"No, ma'am. Isabella appears to be very smart."

"Isabella? You're working with a female classmate?"

"Yes, ma'am. Our professor assigned our partners at random and I was paired with Isabella Swan."

"Edward Anthony, you know what I told you about college girls, those girls aren't like you. They don't respect their families, they don't know how to embrace anything but sin. I doubt that this girl is any different."

An unfamiliar feeling coursed through Edward's body at his mother's opinion of the girl who was attempting to befriend him. Was Isabella like the women his mother warned him about? He wasn't sure, and that led him to feel extremely uneasy about not being able to come to the same clear-cut decision that his mother had in regard to Isabella's character.

Yes, Isabella was inappropriate in her questioning of him, but he didn't find her to be a bad person.

"She's a very studious girl, so it will be nice to have a friend in my class who can assist me with notes if I am unable to attend due to an illness," Edward added into the extended silence.

He intentionally referred to her as his friend, wondering how it would sound spoken out loud in conversation.

He had never had a friend that wasn't a member of his family. The fact that he was an only child who had been home-schooled his entire life left him at a disadvantage when it came to relating to others, so friendship was something that just never happened.

Esme let an irritated sigh escape her lips. She was being neither silent nor subtle in her opinion of Edward's partner.

"What did your father and I say about your schooling?"

Edward timidly looked over at her. He waited until she started speaking to join her.

"That I'm there to prolong my learning experience and distractions will only interrupt the process."

They both spoke in the same frighteningly dead-sounding tone.

"Exactly, you don't want to set yourself up for disappointment."

Edward and his mother returned home minutes later, the earlier conversation still resonating within him as he attempted to relax.

The familiar routine of Esme cooking, Edward assisting, and his father, Carlisle, rushing through the door was ever-present just like countless other evenings.

At exactly 6 p.m. Edward, along with his mother and father, was seated at the dinner table.

They made small talk among the clanking of steel on porcelain, with Carlisle and Esme being the sole providers of the conversation. Edward sat silently, hoping that for once their daily dinner conversation would not revolve around his life and their expectations.

"Son, I would like to speak to you in my office after dinner," Carlisle said with a curt nod to Esme.

"Yes sir," Edward answered with a nod of his own.

As the clean-up began after dinner, Esme excused Edward from helping her to go and see his father. He stood timidly outside his father's office, wondering what he had done to cause himself to be in this situation.

He gave the wooden door a soft knock before he was welcomed in.

"Take a seat."

Edward sat down directly across from his father.

"So your mother tells me that you have a new project for your business management class."

"That is correct." His eyes shifted as he avoided eye contact with the man in front of him.

"You're working with a partner, a female partner," his father stated. "Your mother thinks that I need to remind you of what we talked about when it comes to focusing on our goals."

"She and I have been paired together; we did not choose each other." He stammered throughout the sentence.

While Edward was socially lacking when it came to carrying out a conversation with his peers, he was fairly confident when speaking about various educated topics. He could instantly provide a little-known fact, or historically based information, but he was a blank page when it came to his father.

The constant fear of never being good enough plagued him, and flowed through his veins as if it were his own blood.

"I understand, but I think it's a good idea to talk about your career plan while we're at it, wouldn't you agree? Just a nice little reminder of what's in store."

"Of course, sir."

"Why don't you go grab your information on your project and we'll discuss both it and your future."

Edward nodded before quietly leaving the room. He walked from the kitchen, crossing in the living room, where a startled Esme quickly minimized her Internet browser.

"Edward, were you trying to sneak up on me?" Esme asked, her voice wavering.

"No, mother, that's being dishonest. Dishonesty is an ugly trait to have. Father would like to discuss my project and my future endeavors."

Esme smiled at her son. "That's a wonderful idea."

Edward shuffled up the stairs, grabbing his binder, then returned to his father's study.

Carlisle sat with his son for roughly an hour, discussing all-too-familiar topics when it came to Edward's life.

"We need to make sure our head's level and clear, that means no distractions, so we'll be in excellent shape to intern in Colorado in the summer as we've planned. Doesn't that sound great?"

"Yes, sir." He replied with a stiff nod.

"Remember, with this project – I know it's important, but you need to stand your ground – don't let someone else decide things for you." Carlisle spoke as he stood.

"Why don't you go get ready for bed and I'll see you in the morning for breakfast."

Edward was grateful for the reprieve his bedroom provided him. His mind was working in overdrive, one thought overlapping into another. He was overwhelmed, and the only solution was to analyze it all until he was able to provide a solution for the unknown problem.

What was bothering him? Was it the girl? Was it the things she'd said? How she'd said them?

She was just a girl, no different than the obnoxious one he was forced to sit beside in Biology lab. He really began to ponder the issue.

Was it because she offered him her friendship that his mind was so mixed up at the moment?

Her language was offensive. Her attitude was overbearing. She stalked people in supermarkets.

"She is not your friend. So what if she acted as though she wants to learn about you. She's a college girl, and mother told you all about college girls. Isabella is just a classmate, nothing more, nothing less," he mumbled to himself.

"Are you okay, Edward?"

Edward gasped, startled by his mother's presence in his doorway.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm just going over questions in my head," he answered, not wanting to lie to her.

"All right well, you need to get to bed – you need to be rested for your exam," she said, walking over to his bedside lamp to turn it off.

Esme exited his room after flipping the lights off and shutting the door. Edward slipped under the covers, waiting for his conflicted thoughts of this new person in his life to cease.

**LStE**

The next morning, as Edward took his seat in the middle of the classroom, Bella peered inside. She began to unintentionally seek him out among the crowd of students. Her goal was to talk to him today; apologize for her behavior.

She couldn't reason with herself why she wanted him to accept her into his life, why they should be friends, but she did.

Out of the corner of her eye Bella recognized the overly-gelled hair and patterned button-up. She took a deep breath and walked down to the middle of the lecture hall where Edward was seated. He was looking down at his notes from the previous class, so he didn't see her approach.

"Good morning, partner," Bella said, lifting her desktop into writing position.

Edward shifted his glance her way and quickly looked down, before lifting his head back up just as fast.

"Why are you sitting here?" Edward asked with a confused look upon his face.

"Because I'm in this class," Bella replied, as if it were obvious.

"I know that, but why are you sitting beside me?"

"We're partners and you never know when inspiration is going to hit."

Her tone was optimistic.

"And I need to apologize to you."

Edward looked at Bella in confusion. "Apologize? For what"?

Bella started to respond, when Professor Banner chose that moment to begin class.

"Settle down now." Professor Banner spoke, clasping his hands together. "I know I've heard from some of the pairs," he continued.

Bella leaned into Edward and whispered about their previous meeting.

"What are you doing?" He asked, startled that she was so close to him.

"Is there a problem?" Banner asked looking in their general area, unsure of who had caused the interruption. When no one spoke, he continued his lecture.

Bella remained crouched next to Edward, making sure the professor was still occupied with a question from the far side of the room.

"Look, I'm sorry for all the questions."

"We should really be paying attention; you're disrupting my learning process."

Bella remained quiet for a few moments, before speaking again.

"I know that you said you didn't want to be friends and I get it, I really do. I just –"

He cut her off with an aggravated groan.

"Listen, we don't need to have these conversations. You don't have to pretend to have some interest in me. I'll do all the work, I'll get us an A, just leave me alone, please." He spoke quietly, his voice wavering.

Bella angled her body away from him without a word. A few minutes later she began violently scrawling her feelings on the matter on a piece of loose leaf paper.

At the end of the class she silently handed him the folded-up note and exited the class without looking back.

Edward waited until Bella escaped the confines of the classroom to open the folded piece of notebook paper. He looked around to see his fellow classmates filtering out before flattening the creases of the page.

_Dear Edward A. Cullen,_

_FUCK YOU._

_For future reference, when someone tries to get to know you and wants to be your friend, you might want to be a little nicer when refusing them. Contrary to what you may think, I actually earn my letter grades (A's mind you)__.__ I'm sorry I asked you questions that you were obviously uncomfortable with – I have a tendency to blurt things out when I get nervous._

_You don't want to be friends, fine. We officially aren't friends. I'll be working on our project tomorrow afternoon in the library. If you want to show up, show up._

_Isabella_

**LStE**

Bella sat across from Alice in the campus café, peering out at the crowd of students shuffling along to their next class. She picked at the label of her water bottle, pretending to be interested in Alice's one-sided conversation.

Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him, walking alone with headphones glued to his ears and the paper note from earlier clutched in his hands.

"You're not even listening to me! I'm totally talking to myself."

"Sorry. You know I get distracted easily." Bella laughed, looking away from the window.

She began to wonder if maybe her note was too harsh. She knew from the little amount of time spent together that willingly interacting with his peers was a foreign concept for him. He had to know he was being rude to her, trying to give her a reason to ignore him like the rest of his classmates did. Hell, up until two days ago she was unaware of his existence.

As Alice hurried off to class, Bella was left alone at the table to reflect over the past few days. Now that she had time to think about their interaction, "fuck you" in capital letters was probably a bit overboard. She started to wonder if he would even show the following afternoon to work on the project.

She began to fight with herself over whether or not she should apologize.

Part of her, the part that despised conflict, begged her to simply apologize and move on. Her inner twelve-year-old was not as passive. They both had things to apologize for; whether he realized it or not, he had insulted her twice in two days, both times making it seem as if she wasn't smart enough to stand alongside him and work together.

After much thought Bella decided she would apologize to him, but not before she let him know how much he'd hurt her feelings. Just because he wasn't as comfortable with peer interaction as she was didn't mean he could get away with completely disregarding her feelings.

He obviously had some aversion to friendships. Hopefully it was all friendships and not just hers in particular. There had to be some reason for his ridiculous reactions to forming any kind of connections with people.

She could only hope he would have a change of heart and let her find out.

* * *

**A/N: I want to thank Kristen and SL for looking this over for me.**

**Go check out SL's story Send Me Love - Each of us is looking for that Special Someone. Some of us find it, some of us don't. To Edward it happens under unusual circumstances when he expects it the least. Will he be able to step over the obstacles life has put in his way? AH/OOC**

**Also want to rec my favorite fic of the moment:**

**Strange Brew by Magnolia822 - Soon-to-be college senior Bella Swan needs a summer job. Edward Cullen needs a worker for his new tasting room at Cullen Creek Brewery. She doesn't know much about beer, but she knows how to push his buttons. Romance/Humor, ExB, M for Lemons/Language**

**There were a few reviews last week that I couldn't respond too because the user wasn't logged in. Remember, if you want a teaser you have to be logged in.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So, FF was a big ball of fail this week (and still is for me.) Twilight belongs to SM, I'm just playing with her characters. Thank you for the kind reviews, I appreciate it!**

* * *

**LStE**

Edward sat in his room, thinking over everything that had happened earlier in the day. He remembered his words to Isabella and her unkind response, as well as the things that he had accused her of. He was plagued with a feeling he couldn't quite describe, but if he had to guess he would assume it was a mixture of sadness, regret and disappointment.

He was used to feeling like this when it came to his father and on some occasions his mother, but it was entirely different in this situation.

"Edward, I'm starting a load of laundry," Esme said, walking into his bedroom. She went to his hamper and retrieved his dark clothes while making idle conversation.

She checked his pockets to make sure they were empty.

"I was thinking of making blueberry muffins. Would you like some for breakfast in the morning?" She asked as he nodded in response.

The continued back and forth with Esme haphazardly emptying the contents from the passing articles of clothing.

When she reached into one of the pockets of the jeans he had worn that day, she was surprised to pull out a piece of folded-up notebook paper.

"What's this?" She asked, starting to unfold the paper.

Edward's body kicked into overdrive, not wanting his mother to read Isabella's scathing words to him. He hurriedly leapt from his bed and grabbed the offending piece of paper from his mother's grasp.

"It's my study sheet that I made. Thank goodness you checked my pockets," he smiled extra big, hoping his smile would swallow his guilt.

Esme smiled at him before replying. "You need to be more careful, son. You don't want to stay up too late, make sure you get to bed soon," she remarked as she left his room with the dirty laundry.

As Edward heard his mother descend down the stairs, he breathed a sigh of relief, but the feeling was soon overtaken by his guilty conscience. Edward had just lied to his mother, something that he had never done before intentionally.

He unfolded the crumpled letter Isabella had slid to him earlier in the day and held it in his lap. He had re-read the note so many times,he almost had it memorized now.

Edward stared at the letter, as if it would somehow change its meaning.

He was confused.

He had told Isabella what he thought she wanted to hear. He would do the work and she could stop overcompensating by interacting with him rather than spouting words that left him both longing and loathing the idea of her.

The thoughts in his head would not cease, everything was going a mile a minute. Edward glanced at his alarm clock; it was already late and his mother would be making her rounds shortly to ensure he was in bed.

He folded the letter neatly and prepared himself for sleep.

He laid in the darkness of his room, trying to digest what had happened earlier in the day and how to react to it.

Edward wasn't stupid.

He knew he was sheltered by his parents, but he had always felt that it was for his own good. The world had a lot of negative influences in it and his parents were just doing what was necessary to protect him from it.

He tried to be understanding when it came to the methods his parents used in raising him.

The transition that he made and was still making from the quiet, "weird" kid that didn't go to the local public school to the anonymity provided by attending a large college was the hardest thing he'd ever dealt with.

He liked to think he was learning a lot about himself and his peers. Within his first semester alone he had learned more about all things geared to his age group than he had his entire life. He frequently sat towards the back of the room, hoping to blend in so that he could silently people-watch. It wasn't something he set out to do, but he was fascinated by the differences between himself and his classmates.

The way he viewed things, or rather how he was raised to view things was so unlike what he was now consumed with in the classroom. His choice to commute and attend a rather large university was a decision that he couldn't quite figure out why he had decided to do it; he just did.

Some days his reasoning was that he wanted to relate to his peers better.

Others he simply thought a bigger university meant more room to disappear in a sea of students.

He had a continuing fantasy that one day he would go to class and it would change his life.

He frequently daydreamed about things he rationally knew would never happen, but that he thought about constantly. He put no stock into the things he aimlessly thought of, and chalked them up to too much eavesdropping on campus.

Edward laid flat on his back and closed his eyes, allowing himself to escape into the mindless scenario his mind chose to playe before him.

In this particular fantasy he and Isabella were friends. They talked and interacted just like any other students. He wasn't held back by his fear of acceptance or the potential disapproval from his parents. They looked happy while they worked across from one another in their usual study room in the library.

He was simply normal.

She reached across the table and touched his hand affectionately. He didn't flinch or stiffen like he usually would in response to her action; he smiled.

He talked and laughed and enjoyed life. In his thoughts he wasn't hindered by his fear of making his parents unhappy with his decisions; he didn't play it safe and avoid interacting with fellow students.

This version of Edward spoke freely, and denied his mind the time to over-think things.

This Edward was who he longed to be.

It only took seconds for his logical side to come around.

Edward rolled his eyes in the darkness, disgruntled with the places his imagination would take him.

He knew those thoughts were just silly dreams. His thoughts were simply in overdrive and not reflecting anything he would actually do.

He wouldn't even know how to begin to engage his fellow students. He thought about how poorly things had went with Isabella. If he couldn't communicate with someone who would actually want to talk to him, how could he expect to connect with strangers, even if they ended up having a common interest?

A tiny spark within him remained lit, one that ached for genuine interaction with another person.

As much as it pained him to admit it to himself, he was longing for a friendship to call his own.

* * *

**LStE**

**

* * *

**

Edward woke up the next morning feeling incredibly anxious. He was going to go to the library and speak to Isabella about the project like she had indicated in her letter. His thoughts were far from settling down; it was like there were two sides of him. One side portrayed the calm, quiet demeanor he had grown so comfortable with, while the other side was begging to shatter the invisible guard his parents had

instilled in him to keep others out.

He would apologize for hurting her feelings and clear the air.

A simple "I'm sorry" and move on.

She would probably be irritated or ask questions, but he just wanted to do what was required of them.

Shortly after finishing one of his science classes Edward found himself loitering outside the library. He wanted to gather his thoughts before speaking with Isabella. After a few more minutes he calmly walked to where he knew she would be.

Edward stood outside of the study room they had previously used. He vigilantly peeked into the room as if he would be scathed by the sight of her. Inside Bella was engrossed in the computer screen in front of her, typing away at an unbelievably fast pace.

He walked into the room and set his bag on the floor, making his presence known. He waited for her to acknowledge his arrival with some kind of remark, but she remained silent. He pulled a seat out across from her and sat down.

He began to zone out, but was brought back to the moment when an unexpected, loud curse fell from Bella's lips.

Edward glanced up at her, more in shock of the loudness of her spoken words, than the uncouthness of them.

Bella's hands cupped the center of her face in frustration at the computer error staring back at her. Her laptop was being difficult and holding her unsaved assignment hostage.

"What can I do for you, Cullen?" She asked nonchalantly.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finding the words he wanted to say.

He had thought all morning about what he would say to her, and now that he was sitting inches away from her, his mind was completely blank. All of the lines he had repeated in his head were now anywhere but where he wanted them.

This wasn't going at all how Edward had imagined. He was supposed to go to the meeting, apologize for insulting Isabella's intelligence, and then they would continue where they had left off from the other day.

Instead, every time he attempted to speak, it came out more as a stutter. His tongue felt thick and heavy like a roadblock, every time he attempted to initiate a response.

Bella looked at him with concern. "You're over-thinking it. Just say what's on your mind," she said, placing her hand on his arm as she spoke.

His eyes followed the path of her arm down to her hand, which was softly resting on his. Bella instantly retracted her palm as if his eyes had burned her.

"Listen…" Bella paused, taking a breath. "I'm sorry for being rude with my questions and for being a bit rash in my note to you. I crossed a line; I had no right to be so assertive in something that was none of my business. This is our project and I work for my grades, so we're going to have to deal with one another for a little while."

Bella was silently pleading for him to say something, _anything_, to indicate that he was listening to her words.

"I don't think you're stupid." He finally spoke for the first time since entering the room. "I'm sorry for making you feel as if I thought that, you were obviously upset with my words, and I did not intend for that to happen."

Bella gave a slight smile and a nod of her head before beginning the conversation about their project.

They spoke back and forth in an awkward way about what was to be done. They both agreed against dividing up the work; instead they would meet twice a week until the assignment was due.

"I know meeting time is an issue; why not meet in the afternoon after Professor Banner's class on Tuesdays and on Thursday evenings?" Bella suggested.

Edward looked at her with unease in regard to his familiar routine being disrupted. His mother would surely be displeased that he would be getting home late. He would most likely have to drive himself on that day, seeing as how he was unaware of how long he would be there.

Esme would again be disarmed with him driving to the hectic college campus, rather than allowing her to take him as she usually did.

"I mean, that seems pretty fair to me," Bella added nervously.

Edward sat stoically. His mind was screaming at him to stay with what was safe, to stay with his normal routine, in his usual surroundings.

What escaped his lips next was anything but that.

"We can meet in the evenings." He finally answered, his voice betraying his internal monologue.

"Okay, that's great," Bella exclaimed. She was shocked at his sudden compromise.

"Great," he whispered to himself.

It was then that Edward realized he would soon be facing the brunt of an unsatisfied Esme.

It was a small step on the grander scale of things, opting to forgo his comfort zone in solitude for spending time in the company of a peer – a female one at that.

He smiled at the irony of the situation. He had allowed himself to think about how his days would be if he was just like the others. He had spent countless nights, conjuring up thoughts and images about what his life would be like, had he not been home-schooled and sheltered by his overprotective parents.

Just like his thoughts the night before, he let his imagination take flight. Would his inability to deny a simple request plant the seed for a change in his life? While he scoffed at the thought of a different life just hours before, he wasn't so sure what to think now.

Edward had managed his previous twenty-one years bound by a perpetual state of routine. His days, activities and conversations were all the same and rarely ever deviating.

Rather than ask questions, he obeyed.

While it might seem like it, he didn't resent his parents or his upbringing, he just ached for something more.

Something to bring actual meaning to his days, rather than it just being a passing of time.

So much for keeping his dreams solely in his head.

Edward was diving head-first into foreign territory, hoping like hell he wouldn't drown.

Making his way through the library, he smiled widely, a genuine, real smile. The longing within him was as intense as ever. It wasn't until he made it to the library door that he was warped back into reality, he had to confront Esme.

Easier said than done.

* * *

**A/N: Special thanks to SL for correcting my messiness. Again, I love hearing from you, it's nice to hear your thoughts about these crazy kids. **

**If you're on Twitter I'm brittany2288 so come on over.  
**

**Fic Recs for the week: Where do I even start? With FF fail all I did was read. It makes it twenty times worse when your bff is just as addicted and makes you a list of some amazing stories 3 Seems to be a semi-angsty theme in my recs this week. They're all amazing, so if you're not checking them out you need to!  
**

**Vines by Fictionfreak95 - NapaWard. Yes please! This story is amazing. I love it because of its unique setting, but this Edward is so angsty-hot that it's impossible to stop reading.**

**In Vain by Bratty-Vamp - Again a unique plot with a semi-sheltered Bella and a mysterious Edward. Really if you're not reading Bratty-Vamp's work by now, go do it! I'm a ginormous fan of everything she's done. Her updates are definitely the drop everything and read kind.**

**An Undefined Affair by jayhawkbb - A glorious tale of FWB. I couldn't stop this story once I started, I stayed up late to finish it. I am also now addicted to the Sky Burger App (it's real and it's addicting.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Twilight belongs to SM, I'm just playing with her characters.**

* * *

Edward paced in circles outside of the library, waiting for his mother. The music drifting through his ear buds did little to soothe his anxious mood.

He knew Esme was going to be upset with what he had to tell her, so he decided he wasn't going to say anything until later that evening at dinner. Waiting until dinner would ensure that both Carlisle and Esme would listen in on what he had to say.

Edward saw his mother entering the parking garage from the corner of his eye. He walked the short distance to meet her with confidence coursing through his veins. It was rare when he felt like he did in that moment; it was as though he paced those few steps to savor the moment.

Edward quietly slid into the passenger seat.

With one fleeting glance at his mother, his confidence took a nose dive. He was sure his mother could hear every internal thought he had at the moment. His calm demeanor from seconds earlier was now replaced with a bad set of nerves and guilt seeping out of his pores.

"Good evening, son. How was your day?" Esme asked in a conversational tone, as she started to pull out of the parking garage.

Before Edward could even process the words being spoken to him, he reacted with harsh onset of his own words.

"I have to stay late to work on my business management project on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting next week, because we cannot meet at any other time. I'm going to have to drive on those days and I won't be home until after dinner. I know you're not happy about this, but I would really like to try to spend more time with my peers and also devote more time to this project." He paused at the completion of his

rehearsed words.

Shock slowly set in as he realized his inability to follow the plan he set out for himself.

Edward stared straight ahead, careful to avoid her gaze.

The car came to a halt as Esme slammed on the breaks at his words.

She took a deep breath and then acted as if he hadn't just had a verbal outburst.

"You know what our daily routine is – you don't miss family dinner." She scoffed, as if it was obvious that was the only answer. Her patronizing tone filtered into the already tense air.

Edward's jaw dropped at his mother's easy dismissal of his words.

"Mother, I know that –"

"You know nothing," she spoke in a raised tone.

"I just feel that –" He stammered, trying to make his voice heard.

"Enough," Esme yelled aggressively. "You will tell that girl in class on Tuesday that you cannot meet her well on into the night. If she doesn't want to work when you're available, your father will speak with your professor and make the appropriate arrangements."

His spirit beyond deflated, he shook his head in response before speaking the words.

"Yes, ma'am."

He remained silent for the rest of the car ride, only speaking when his mother asked him a question.

Edward was in no mood to be in the company of his family. He was frustrated and defeated, and the last thing he needed was to relive the conversation when it was spoken of in front of his father.

Within minutes of their arrival at home, his mother requested his presence in that evening's dinner preparations.

They awkwardly danced around the pink elephant in the room, Esme acting as if the failure that was their conversation never happened, and Edward speaking as little as possible.

As the family sat at the dinner table, Edward debated just telling his father of his disagreement with his mother earlier in the evening, in hopes that by some miracle Carlisle would side with him.

He was a second too late in his thinking, when he heard his mother start speaking.

Esme had beat him to it.

"Edward's partner thinks it's appropriate to meet late in the evening," Esme spoke in a light-hearted tone.

Edward sat completely confounded by his mother's actions. That wasn't at all what he had said, not even close.

He was tempted to speak, to say something, _anything_ in defense of Isabella, but came up short.

Carlisle let his reading glasses slip down his nose to glare across the table at his wife and son.

"You already spend all day on campus; it's absurd to spend your evenings there as well. There's no reason to stay that late when you can easily meet in between your classes."

"I just think –" Edward started before he was cut off by his father.

"I have to head into the hospital early in the morning; I think I'm going to call it a night," Carlisle spoke abruptly, shutting down any chance of a continued conversation.

"You work so hard, dear." Esme smiled in his direction, speaking lovingly.

Carlisle and Esme continued to speak among themselves, denying their son any chance for interruption.

**LSte**

The conclusion of dinner was uneventful. Carlisle retired to the bedroom to catch up on sleep and Edward followed to his own room after helping to clean up.

He slipped into the privacy of his bathroom and finally succumbed to the pressures of the evening. He methodically prepared for his shower, setting out a clean towel and stripping of his clothes. After a few moments of standing under the showerhead, the steam began to emerge. Edward let his head fall against the slick marble, allowing the steady flow of water to coat his body.

However, the repetitive routine of washing and drying did little to dull the ache inside of him.

With what was left of his self-assurance, Edward allowed his conflicted thoughts to take over his mind. While his childhood was filled with awkwardness and innocence, he had remained blissfully unaware of his differences, not bothered by them until he was faced with college. Now that he had been exposed to what life was like to others his age, he couldn't be certain of what he should make of it.

Was this simply a case of wondering if the grass was greener on the other side?

The ice cold water eventually snapped Edward out of his hazy thoughts.

It wasn't until the steady stream of water ceased that he realized the liquid streaming down his cheeks wasn't water, but his own tears.

The chill of the evening air caused a shudder course through Edward as he stepped out of the shower. He slowly dried himself before glancing in the mirror.

The redness of his eyes provided further evidence of his tears.

Edward quickly dressed before turning off the lights and submitting himself to the darkness of his bedroom. He finally allowed his tense muscles to relax as he settled into bed.

The serenity of the moment quickly came to an end when he heard the rap of his mother's fist on his wooden door.

"You're going to sleep already?" Esme questioned, flipping on his bedroom light switch with a flit of her index finger, completely disregarding the silence of her son.

Edward's eyes clenched shut as the unwelcome brightness saturated his vision.

"I'm tired." While his reply was simple when it came to speaking the words, his meaning behind them weighed heavily in his mind.

The true meanings of his words were on the tip of his tongue.

_I'm tired of following the same routine. I'm tired of wondering what change would be like. Most importantly, I'm tired of being alone in a room full of people._

Esme took a seat at the foot of Edward's bed, straightening the bottom part of his blanket with her hands. "I suppose that will leave you well-rested for the weekend."

It was then that Edward realized it was Friday evening. Weekends held little significance to him, just two mornings of not driving to campus, and two full days spent either at home or running errands, which were rarely done by his self.

"I suppose so," he answered quietly.

"Listen," Esme spoke softly, interrupting his thoughts. "I know you're upset about your partner trying to force you to work in the evenings. You don't have to, just simply stand up for yourself, and tell her that she's going to have to compromise and accept the fact that you can't meet at her convenience."

Edward paused, taking a breath before speaking. He knew this conversation was only going to end one way.

With a slight nod of his head he answered before speaking. "Yes, of course, mother. I'll speak with her next week."

"Good," she replied curtly. "I'm sure she'll understand the two of you will just have to be more resourceful with your time."

Edward once again nodded in response, not encouraging the conversation any further.

"Sleep well, son." Esme walked out of her son's room shutting the door behind her.

At the sound of the door latch clicking in place, Edward's posture sagged into its previous position.

He knew what he had to do, no matter how terrified and vulnerable it made him.

**LStE**

He pulled out the cellular telephone his mother had handed down to him. The phone was outdated and rarely used, but it looked brand new. It's not like he used it frequently enough to care.

He skimmed through his small directory of family contacts. The only non-family members included were his parents' close friends.

He scrolled until he received the on-screen prompt to add a new contact.

Edward creeped quietly from his bed and pulled the folded-up piece of printer paper from his business book.

The rush of adrenaline from earlier was now back. He hurriedly moved back to the spot on his bed. The illumination of the small device provided just enough light to clearly read the information in front of him.

He pressed the eleven numbers on the keyboard of the phone, lightly speaking them before assigning the contact name.

With shaking fingers he brought up a blank text message.

He willed his nervousness to go away, allowing himself a few moments to swallow his anxiety.

_What's the worst that could happen?_ He silently thought to himself.

That was definitely the wrong thing to imagine when trying to diffuse the seriousness of the situation. A million scenarios flooded his brain, some good, some bad, some absolutely mortifying.

_You can do this._

He wondered if he would be able to express his reason for sending her a text message in the standard one hunderd and sixty characters – or less.

This was the time where he wished he had the privacy of a computer in his room. His laptop was safely stored in his father's office, and the desktop computer was downstairs. He couldn't access either without crossing paths with his mother, who would somehow insert herself into the situation.

His intention wasn't to be deceitful, nor was it to lie to his parents. Edward simply wanted to have something to call his own.

Going back to the matter at hand, he thought of everything he wanted to say to her.

He could say it all in an email without worrying about a word count, but unfortunately, that resource was currently unavailable for him.

He was determined to make each word count.

Edward compared his actions to that of ripping off a band-aid. The quicker the action, the less time spent dealing with the sting. He quickly typed a message, only to furiously hit the backspace button repeatedly.

He attempted twice more with the same result.

Trying the fourth time, he typed the message, deciding to send two, rather than trying to cram everything into one.

_This is Edward Cullen, your partner from Professor Banner's class. I got your phone number from the email he sent out last week._

_Something has come up. I would very much like to speak with you about it on Monday morning. Please let me know if you're available._

After hitting "Send", his adrenaline rush had vanished and he was left with a feeling of panic.

_What if she didn't respond?_

He quickly shut his phone off, not wanting to have to deal with the possibility of her rejection or ignoring him.

He stored his phone in his nightstand, placing it in the very bottom, as if that would prevent it from taunting him. The offending telephone remained turned off, hidden away from his line of vision for the rest of the weekend; a dejected toy in the bottom of a toy box.

Edward tried to forget about the message, about the cellular device that usually held little to no meaning to him, but the very opposite happened. His thoughts were consumed with what could possibly be waiting for him within the confines of the over-manufactured metal and plastic.

The weekend passed at a snail's pace, leaving Edward both pleading for and objecting to the arrival of Sunday night.

The epitome of dedication, he finished up every task he could think of from homework to household chores to stall the inevitable.

With it being late into the evening, Edward decided he had waited long enough – it was time to see what awaited him.

With the push of a button the telephone lit up in his hands. The welcome screen greeted his impatient eyes. While he had never paid much mind to how long it took to turn the phone on and ready it for use today it stretched on forever. It seemed like it took minutes for him to hear the unfamiliar chime when his phone indicated a new message had been received.

His nerves started as the name flashed on his screen.

_Bella._

He stared at the display for a few seconds before opening the message.

_Hey. What's up? I'm __free before 11. Wanna meet at the library or the coffee shop?_

While he was reading that message, he was notified of another incoming message.

_Is everything ok?_

After reading the second message, he took note of the box on the top of his screen indicating he had a voicemail message.

He dialed into his voicemail and was shocked to hear Bella.

"Hey, Edward, this is Bella, it's Saturday afternoon and I know you said that your phone was only for emergencies... I was just a little worried by your message last night... Umm.. I guess just call me back or text me, and let me know what's up... Bye."

Not wanting to risk his mother hearing his phone conversation, along with a case of severe nerves, Edward settled on a text message.

_Everything's okay. I just need to go over something with you. Let's meet in the usual study room._

He responded, intentionally keeping his answers vague.

He needed to talk to her face to face, but _how_ he was going to manage that, he didn't know.

A new message flashed on his screen.

_OK :) I'll be there early until my class at 11 so just stop by._

Edward eyebrows furrowed in confusion over her placement of a colon and singular parenthesis.

He held the device out in front of him as if trying to decipher a code. It wasn't until he dropped it and it landed sideways, that he realized it resembled a smiling face.

A smile graced his lips as her sent her the final message of the night.

_Thanks. :)_

* * *

**It seems we're making some progress with these two crazy kids. Again thanks to SL for making my sloppiness all pretty. I was fail with teasers, but I had a really busy/stressful week so please forgive me.**

**I was so busy this week that I didn't have time to really get into anything new. There were two fics rec'd on Twitter, a O/S by Katinki called **_**A Voice in the Darkness. **_**You may want to read the author note at the beginning and decide if it's for you. It's graphic, put extremely powerful.**

_**Young Pilgrims**_** by ineedyoursway was also rec'd on Twitter. I've only made it three chapters in so far, but I really like it. It's a completed story with short chapters.**

**I'm not really all that exciting, but if you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm brittany2288  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Twilight is all SM.**

* * *

The calm atmosphere of the Cullen household on Monday morning provided a sense of mockery to the tense mood of its youngest occupant. Edward stared at his reflection in his rarely used full length mirror in an attempt at giving himself a pep talk for his meeting with Isabella.

For the first time in his life he was taking an initiative in his social life. His doubts ignored, he walked to the kitchen coming face to face with his mother.

He took note of the breakfast laid out on the table and compared that to his unsettled stomach.

"I think I'm just going to have some toast," he replied quietly opening the loaf of whole wheat bread.

"Edward, don't be rude, I made your favorite."

Esme looked at her son as if he had two heads.

"Toast isn't going to hold you over until lunch," she added.

Her arrogant dismissal caused irritation to seep into Edward's skin.

He begrudgingly sat at the table, pancakes and turkey bacon in front of him. He hated pancakes, he could go the rest of his life never having them and he would be perfectly happy.

The offending texture of the fake bacon sliding down his throat did little to soothe his uneasiness.

He got half of the meal down before he accepted defeat. He couldn't force anymore of the starchy, sweet concoction into his body.

"Are you feeling ok, dear?" Esme asked placing her palm to his forehead.

"I am perfectly fine mother, I'm just nervous about getting my exam score."

"Oh right, your English exam, I forgot you had that last week."

The short drive to campus heightened the obnoxious sensations in his stomach.

When Esme finally dropped Edward off two hours early under the pretense of needing extra study time, he breathed a sigh of relief.

With the familiar car out of sight Edward rushed inside making a beeline for the restroom. He entered the stall and crouched over the toilet as his breakfast made an immediate return to the surface.

Pulling a water bottle from his backpack he rinsed his mouth before flushing the disgusting mixture.

Edward made use of his travel toothbrush ridding his mouth of the sour taste lingering in his mouth.

He glanced in the mirror to check his reflection, his vision momentarily obscured by the quickness of his action.

The nerves the he had felt when he was getting ready earlier that morning had increased ten-fold since then.

As he left the restroom he was faced with the seriousness of the moment. He propped himself up against the library wall. Edward was lost in thought when he felt a soft touch on his elbow.

"Edward?"

He looked up to see Isabella standing to his side.

"Are you ok? I've been trying to get your attention for the past two minutes," she spoke with concern.

"Just thinking," he answered shortly.

"Right… are you ready to go to the study room? You wanted to talk."

He nodded in response before following her to the increasingly familiar room.

**LStE**

The seconds inched on with neither of them saying anything before Bella spoke.

"So, what's up?"

Edward was battling with his thoughts, wanting to tell her everything and nothing at the same time. After another extended silence he decided to just let the words flow as they may. He clenched his shaking hands underneath the table, feeling ashamed at his struggle to shut his mind off.

"I know I'm different," Edward spoke, startled at his words.

"I know I'm not like everyone else."

Bella listened intently, slightly confused by his not so surprising admission.

"Edward, I'm not sure I-."

"When I was 11 my family went on vacation with my uncle's family. That was the first time I realized I wasn't what society deemed normal, I wasn't like the others."

Bella didn't dare interrupt; she remained silent as she got up to shut the door, the significance of the conversation dawning on her. Taking her seat across from him, he stared at the table in from of them.

"My only experience with friendship has been with my cousins, who are terrible ones at that. I was treated so badly that week by my cousin Emmett."

Edward's head dropped, feeling humiliation at actually voicing his weakness to another person.

" I thought, if someone who was supposed to care for you, love you, someone who was your own flesh and blood was so repulsed by the idea of my friendship, why would anyone else want it."

"The trip was supposed to be so great, the sun, the sand, the beach, you name it. My parents promised me that. My dad went on for weeks before the trip saying that it would be an experience I would never forget."

Edward paused, a scowl adorning his perfect, pale face. "He wasn't wrong," he said with a bitter laugh.

Bella was startled by the depth of his words. The times that they had spoken previously, they had never shared information this personal.

"They left me to play with my cousin and a few of his friends whose families had also joined in on the trip. I thought it would be just as my parents described it."

"I was getting to spend time with my cousin who I adored, he was three years older than me and had begged my parents to let us play on the beach while they sunbathed and relaxed on the deck."

Bella was hanging on his every word, anxious to hear how the story would end.

"It started with name calling, derogatory words that I hadn't even heard before. The second day of the trip our parents sent us off to the beach again under the assumption of it being family bonding time.

"I didn't dare speak a word of the harsh words they had spoken to me the previous day. I didn't even understand the full impact of those words until I googled them."

Edward's voice began to break as he continued.

"They were playing tackle football in the sand, I intentionally sat out. I don't do sports. They coaxed me into joining them, promising me they would teach me, saying that they were sorry for how they acted."

"Everything was ok until they realized our parents were no longer watching. Emmett shoved me face first into the sand telling me he swore I had the ball. It happened twice after that, the final time breaking my glasses and scratching up my face."

"Did you tell your parents?"

"Of course not, Emmett made sure to help me back to the house to tell my parents about my clumsiness."

"I spent the rest of the week alone, only experiencing the beach through a window."

"What a dick," Bella spoke before cringing at her word choice.

Edward laughed darkly as he nodded his head.

"Pretty much."

"Mr. Cullen did you just agree with a crude statement?" She joked, giggling.

**LStE**

"I honestly didn't come here to pour some sad story on you, it just kind of came out."

"It sounded like it was long overdue."

"Well in a roundabout way that's why I called you here," Edward spoke sneaking a glance at her.

"I'm not sure I'm following you."

"My mother is slightly over protective and abrasive."

Bella arched her brow in question.

"Ok maybe a lot," he said with a small smile before continuing.

"She refuses to let me meet in the evenings, she says it's unnecessary."

"With all due respect Edward you're what a 19-20 year old man. You're not a child, do it anyway."

"I don't think you understand the severity of the situation."

Edward tried to think of an appropriate way to explain his dilemma to her.

"Ok, say you have something big happen in your life good or bad, who do you rely on?"

"Mostly my friends, I don't have a lot of family close by."

"Exactly...here's where we're different. My only option would be my immediate family."

"I'm still not sure I'm following you."

"I didn't come here to lay all my problems on you, or maybe I did, I don't know. I just don't know how to handle things and they've gotten unbearable. I've just rolled over when it comes to conflict for so long and it's just been building and building and I don't know what to do."

The words lingered in the air for a few seconds before the thought of rejection made him backpedal.

"I'm sorry I don't know what I was thinking, this was wrong," he spoke panicked.

Edward grabbed his bag and was out of his seat before Bella could blink. At the sight of him exiting the room she jumped up after him.

The usual hustle and bustle of the library's third floor was anything but at the current early hour. Bella caught his arm just as he was descending down the stairway causing him to stop.

His body made no move to change its current position angled away from her.

Bella swung around leaving him unable to continue his path to the main level.

Her hands encompassed his face, forcing him to look at her.

"You're scared, it's ok," Bella spoke trying to calm his nerves.

Edward looked down at her words.

"Look at me," she begged. "You came to me for a reason that has to mean something."

Her words lingered in the air as the intimacy of their position sunk in. Cautiously she allowed her hands to make their way around his shoulders to pull him into an embrace in hopes of calming him.

They remained that way until the sound of footfalls on the steps filled their ears.

"Come on…let's get back to the room before someone moves in on it and steals my laptop," she joked.

"Things seem pretty intense... so let's try to simplify. What do you want me to help you with."

"This is so juvenile and mortifying," Edward mumbling, unable to meet her stare.

Bella knew she had to say something to help calm him.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not here to judge you and just so you know, I'm an awesome friend. It's quite an endearing quality of mine," she smiled.

**LStE**

"I guess the easiest way to break this down is start from the beginning."

"I've been home schooled since my failed attempt at a public school in kindergarten. My mom thought that I wasn't learning to my potential and didn't like the other students so she decided to teach me herself."

"The first few years it was fun, I could wake up and play, we'd have school for a few hours. After a while it got lonely. I had no friends, no one my own age to interact with. Every school day was identical to the next, just the topics changed."

"The pressure from my parents to overly succeed increased as I got older. My father is convinced that I would be perfect working for my uncle, Emmett's father; he has a firm in Colorado. So the next logical step was applying to college and enrolling in the business school."

Bella nodded along with his story sipping her now cold coffee.

"I'm not sure why I decided to go to college, sometimes I feel like I did it to help assimilate with my peers, other times my thinking is that it's the perfect opportunity to disappear in a mass of people for a little while."

"Anyway, the reason I asked you to meet with me..." He trailed as if he was unsure of his words. "My mother said no to meeting in the evenings and I can't just defy her. I rely on my parents for everything."

"Basically you want to cut the cord?" Bella asked.

"What cord?"

"Figure of speech...as in you want to cut the umbilical cord..ya know, you want to branch out and be independent."

"Oh. Yes that's correct. I just wanted your advice. I know we started off with under the wrong impression ..." Edward's voice lowered as he finished his sentence. "You seemed nice and you wanted to talk to me," he stammered before silencing altogether.

"So is this a onetime thing, you coming to me for help?"

"I'm sorry this was a stupid idea."

"Cullen," Bella whispered compassionately. "Did you tell me these things just because I'm your partner?"

"I just thought that you wanted to talk to me before..." he said struggling to find his voice.

Bella took in the broken person in front of her, seeming more like a boy than a grown man.

She was trying to treat the situation as delicately as she possibly could.

"All right, let's get to work then. What do you want?"

Bella realized her loaded question and added to her statement.

"I mean do you want me to talk to your mom and explain that we need the extra time or try to work around our schedules to meet earlier?"

"No, that would be bad...I don't know what I was expecting...maybe I just wanted to vent my frustration to an actual person."

"Well I mean do you want to meet in the evenings?"

"I want to. I just don't think it's possible."

"What about extracurricular activities or organizations? Are you involved in those?"

"Unfortunately no, for the same reason."

Bella sat for a few minutes before a light bulb went off.

"What if we can convince her?"

Edward looked at her with little faith.

The vibration of Bella's phone brought them back to the present.

"Crap, I have an exam in half an hour."

Edward's panicked face stared back at Bella.

"But… I don't…"

"I'll tell you what, why don't we meet back here for lunch at say 1:30? Does that work for you?"

He nodded in response.

"Ok, so we'll meet back here after to continue this."

Edward smiled at her, remaining seated as Bella packed up her things.

"Think about this while I'm gone. Make sure this is what you really want." She turned back to look at him placing her hand on his shoulder. "Because there's no going back," she chuckled, her hand making a patting motion before exiting the room.

**LStE**

Though he was left alone in the room, it was anything but quiet. His mind began to go through the possible outcomes of his situation. The good was so good, too good, but the bad, it was unfathomable.

Edward was deep in thought when he realized someone was standing at the study room door trying to get his attention. His body stiffened on instinct at the unwarranted interaction.

"Is there any way I could work in here with you?" The boy asked tentatively.

Edward nodded before finding his voice.

"Sure."

"Thanks man. It's so crowded out there and I have an English paper due at the end of the week and can't concentrate out there," the young man said motioning to the surrounding table outside the room.

Edward began to instantly judge the boy standing before him. He would never wait this late to start working on a paper, regardless of the class.

"Which English professor do you have?" He asked not sure if he was supposed to continue the conversation.

"Mallory, she's such a joke," the guy added as he took his laptop out of his bag.

"I have her as well for English 2, she's quite the talker."

"When's your class? That's what I have right now; I'm working on the comparison paper."

Edward felt his breaths becoming easier, his anxiety from seconds earlier slowly disappearing.

"I have her class Tuesday's and Thursday's at 8 am."

"Dude, are we in the same class?"

His eyes narrowed in thought as he realized he recognized the boy in front of him.

Normally Edward would scoff at that type of slang, but somehow it was much different when someone was referring to him in their use of it.

"There's a girl with insanely curling hair that blocks your view pretty much anywhere in the classroom?" The boy questioned again as if to help jog Edward's memory.

"Yes, that's the class."

"Nice, I'm Seth," he spoke extending his hand to officially introduce himself.

"Edward."

"So, have you worked on your paper?"

Edward paused for a moment wondering what would be the appropriate response. If he said yes, this Seth boy might try to con him into helping him with his work, if he said no, he would be lying.

"I'm going through it," he replied keeping his answer vague.

"It's just so frustrating I know more about her love life than about the actual class. I want to make sure I'm turning it in with everything that's required," Seth huffed.

"I know you're studying, but would you mind looking over this and giving me your opinion? I don't know anyone in the class, beside you, who I just met," Seth chuckled before continuing. "And I just wanted a different perspective."

An hour later Bella returned to the study room.

"Hey Edward, you ready to—"Bella paused as she effortlessly turned into the room, shocked to see Edward actively engaged in conversation with another student. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Bella looked to Edward unsure of how to respond, if at all to the new sight before her. Making quick introductions, Edward wrapped up his conversation with Seth, albeit rather clumsily.

**LStE**

"So…" Bella sang stealing a glance at Edward.

Edward cocked his eyebrow in question unsure of how to respond to her.

"Your new friend?"

"H-he's in my English class. H-he came in the room, I didn't know what to do," he said, a small amount of panic creeping into his voice.

"Cool."

Bella didn't push the conversation any further. When the elevator stopped at the main level she looked to him and motioned forward with her head.

"Come on friend, let's go grab some lunch and plan your escape from prison." Knowing the euphemism was lost on him she continued speaking. "By prison I mean your overbearing mother."

"Right," he nodded following behind her a few paces.

As they stood in line at the deli close to campus Edward relished in his pleasant interaction with Bella.

A man slightly shorter than him politely moved past him to put his arm around Bella.

"Just so you know, Ali has the living room torn all to hell," the man whispered placing a kiss on Bella's temple.

Bella turned and greeted the man with a hug, while Edward took in their easy interaction.

"Jazz...hey, what are you doing on campus today?"

"I had to drop a paper off and pick up lunch."

Bella turned to Edward to introduce him to her roommate's boyfriend.

"Edward, this is my roommate Alice's boyfriend Jasper, Jasper this is my friend Edward, we're both in the business program."

"Nice to meet you," Jasper spoke extending his hand with Edward accepting with a subtle prompt from Bella.

"We're making dinner at the apartment tonight Bell, you're more than welcome to join too Edward, I'm always the odd man out," Jasper spoke sensing the vibes being directed to him from his girlfriend's best friend.

Not waiting for a response, Jasper went to the register to pick up his called in order.

"Don't worry, I'll bring you leftovers for lunch tomorrow," Bella whispered acknowledging his known answer.

He nodded as they moved through the line, placing orders and waving goodbye to Jasper.

She ushered him to a booth tucked in the back corner of the small eatery.

"So now that we're friends why don't you tell me a little about yourself."

"I'm not very interesting," he spoke shyly.

"I'll be the judge of that...what do you like to do? What's your favorite food? Favorite band?"

"Is this like a game show?" He asked smiling at her.

"Somebody's got jokes…you never know when random friend knowledge might come in handy."

They exchanged questions back and forth, learning middle names, favorites, and other interesting facts.

Edward finished his answer before focusing on the task at hand.

"What are we going to do about tomorrow?"

"We'll meet at the same time we did last week and go from there."

Edward started to ramble on about failure and mistakes before Bella interrupted him.

"I know I told you this earlier, you need to be positive that this is really what you really want. If you can't stand up for yourself, you can't expect anyone else to either. This is your battle to fight. You came to me for friendship and I'm giving it to you. Just because you're standing up for yourself doesn't mean you're turning your back on your parents, it just means you're going to start living for you, rather than someone else."

"I want this, I do… it's just absolutely terrifying."

"And how you're living now isn't? I'm not trying to influence you either way… this is entirely your decision, just take some time to think about this."

Edward and Bella continued their conversation, making little headway in the grand scheme of things. After half an hour of talking in circles the two parted ways, anticipating the events of the next day.

Fight or flight- there was no room for error, tomorrow held an exorbitant amount of potential for the shy broken boy who just bared his soul to his first and only friend.

* * *

**A/N: RL kinda kicked my butt last week so I got a little behind, and once I sat down with this chapter I kept reworking it. Anyway… I usually do rec's but I haven't had much time. The next fic on my list to read is Pros and Cons by SydneyAlice, she's a great writer with a lot of fantastic completed fics!**

**This chapter is nowhere close to being beta-ed so excuse my mess. Thank you for the kind reviews, favorites, alerts, etc. I love hearing from you!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: SM owns everything.**

* * *

Edward sat slack in his seat, his head focused on the door, praying for the remaining ten minutes of his class to end. The monotone sound of his teacher's voice echoed throughout the classroom and helped feed his agitation. He kept replaying Bella's words in his mind over and over, grasping for some kind of sign to lead him in the right direction.

He picked up his ink pen, lazily scribbling in his notebook while glancing up at the clock.

"Alright, guys, excellent work today. I'm going to let you go a few minutes early, I've got to run across campus. Remember to read Chapter Ten and answer the questions at the end."

Grabbing his backpack, Edward shuffled through the halls before finally making it outside. He pulled the hood of his jacket securely to his head as the rain began to drizzle down on him. His afternoon with Bella had been eye-opening, and he found himself wanting to spend more and more time with her. She hadn't judged him once as he replayed the horrors of his childhood and bared his insecurities to her, she merely listened.

There was still so much he had bottled inside of him, so much he'd kept a secret over the years, but he found himself wanting to tell her, to share the pieces of himself that no one else knew about.

He thought back to earlier in the afternoon when the young man, Jasper, had casually walked up to her and embraced her, placing a kiss on her cheek. Edward wondered if he would ever have the opportunity to engage her like that, in a carefree, effortless manner like that.

The rain began beating down harder, forcing Edward back to reality. He lightly jogged to the parking garage, escaping the cold wetness that was all too common. He spotted his mother's car in her usual spot and his body instantly tensed.

Would she know what he was up to today?

Edward remembered Bella's words from earlier. _If you can't stand up for yourself, you can expect anyone else to either. _He kept his head down as he walked to meet his mother.

Edward felt his phone vibrate in the pocket of his jacket. His hand instantly reached up to grab his phone before realizing he was within eyesight of his mother. Not allowing himself to over-think the situation, he pulled the phone out and saw the familiar name flash across the screen.

_Thanks for the great day._

Edward smirked thinking that he was the one that should be thanking her. He slipped the phone back in his pocket, deciding to reply to her later.

Opening the car door, he slid into the front seat and waited for the inquisition to begin, which never took long.

"How was your day?" Esme asked, looking over at him.

"It was good."

"What did you do?"

"Went to class," he answered shortly before deciding to continue. "Went over some work with a couple of my classmates." It wasn't a lie – he had worked with both Seth and Bella.

Esme's facial expression conveyed annoyance at his words, but surprisingly, she said nothing.

"And the girl, the one you're working on the project with... did you speak with her?"

There was an extended silence in the car as Edward thought of what to say to his mother. Esme reacted to her son's lack of response by continuing to badger him with her words. As she spoke she took turns staring at the road in front of her and the young man in the passenger seat.

"We talked about this over the weekend, Edward. You were to set her straight about this project nonsense. Just because she can't manage her time properly doesn't mean you're going to sacrifice your own time. You need to be focused on your studies, not trying to please every –"

Esme was interrupted by Edward's shouts as she slammed on the breaks, narrowly missing an oncoming vehicle. His eyes clenched shut as one of his hands gripped the car door and the other one grabbed at his chest in anticipation of a collision.

After the screeching of breaks had subsided and a shocked Esme glanced over to confirm the safety of her child, she continued driving.

The ragged breaths of a panicked Edward were the only noises filling the family car. Esme's knuckles were pale, clutching the steering wheel, fighting anxiety and panic.

The pair returned home with no other words uttered among them. In an attempt to seclude himself from his mother, Edward started to escape up the stairs as soon as he got the chance.

"Where are you going?" Esme asked, walking to the bottom of the stairs and watching her son's retreating figure stop in his tracks.

"I'm just going to rest for a little while, I had a long day," he muttered.

"Come sit with me, so I can tell you the latest about Emmett."

With his back to her, Edward rolled his eyes before turning and walking back down the steps. The last thing he wanted to hear about was how his cousin was doing.

He poured himself a glass of water before taking a seat at the bar in the kitchen. He glared out the window, looking at the dreary sky.

"Emmett's getting ready to graduate in the spring. I spoke to Aunt Jane earlier today, and she said that they wanted to plan a trip to visit for spring break, since we missed seeing them at Thanksgiving and Christmas."

Esme made eye contact from across the room and Edward simply arched his brow in acknowledgment.

"Wouldn't it be great to see your cousin again?"

Edward's mind was raging with negative thoughts of his wicked cousin. He had avoided Emmett, since he was forever scarred by him, and while they had rarely had any kind of interaction in the past few years, he didn't want to think about it.

"Sure," he said shortly before he let Esme dominate the conversation, only adding curt responses and nods.

Edward allowed the dinner banter to swarm around him, only contributing when necessary. He was itching to respond to Bella's message from earlier in the evening.

After being excused for the evening, he went up to his room and settled in for the night. Spreading his notebook and textbooks out on his bed, he was able to conceal his texting activities from his prying mother. Edward opened up his inbox, highlighting Bella's name before responding.

Over-thinking his response countless times, he finally wrote – _I had a great time with you._

Moments later his phone buzzed.

_:) I have a surprise for you tomorrow!_

Edward smiled at her words, unsure of what to say to her. Inside he was positively giddy. His friend had a surprise for him!

_A surprise? What is it?_

Edward heard someone coming up the stairs and his mother's voice echoing throughout the halls. He quickly shoved his buzzing phone under his books before she made it to his doorway.

Esme sat and talked to him for roughly half an hour before noticing the late

hour. Edward feigned tiredness as he started putting his books away.

"Goodnight, son," she spoke, leaving his room.

Once she was gone, Edward set his books on his desk and breathed deep, opening Bella's text message.

_Surprises aren't supposed to be spoiled... I'll show ya when I see ya._

He silently chuckled as he typed out his thoughts. _Fair enough. For the record though, I don't like surprises._

After brushing his teeth, he picked up his phone once again.

_R U Kidding? Bella's surprises are the best, or so I've been told ;)_

Edward blushed at her boldness.

_I can't wait :)_

The two exchanged a few more texts before calling it a night. He went to bed, eagerly anticipating seeing his friend the next day.

The Cullen household would usually be sound asleep at the current late hour. While her son was sound asleep down the hall, Esme was a nervous wreck. With the house phone still clasped in her shaking hands, she sat at the foot of her bed, taking in the devastating news. Carlisle was by his wife, now wide awake, and attempted to comfort her.

"I just don't understand how this happened," she said, feeling too guilty to cry. "She's my mother, how did I not know she was sick?"

"Es', life happened. Elle never led you to believe she was sick."

"They don't think she can stay in that house by herself, and there's no way Johnny will give up his lifestyle to allow our mother to live with him," she sobbed.

"Homecare is a big responsibility, dear. A lot of time, effort, stress, not to mention strain on the family."

"If this was one of us, wouldn't you hope that our son would do the right thing?"

Carlisle nodded to his wife before trying to reason with her. "At least try to get a little sleep before you hit the road."

"I can't sleep at a time like this; I need to be with her!" Esme exclaimed, raising her voice a bit. Throwing her hands in the air, anxious to no end. She hopped off the bed and swiftly walked over to her closet.

Esme carelessly packed clothes for the next few days, something that was strikingly uncharacteristic for her. Shutting her bag, she decided it was finally time to let her son know about the news.

Edward was roused from his sleep by his mother leaning over, him shaking him. He shot up from his deep sleep, instantly worried.

"Mom, what's wrong?" He questioned, his eyes roughly adjusting to the harsh light illuminating his bedroom.

"It's Nana Platt... she's having some serious health issues."

"Is she okay... I mean is she al –" he spoke, unable to complete his thoughts.

"She's still with us... I wanted to come speak with you so you wouldn't be wondering what was going on when you get up for school."

Edward stared at his mother, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm going to stay with Nana while she's at the hospital."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's had some underlying health issues, but she fell at home this evening and that's what really made everything worse. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but I'm going to be with her for a few days. I don't know what's going to happen, but the doctors are saying that it's a bad idea for her to live alone – who knows how long she would have laid there, had her neighbor not come over to visit."

"Can't she stay here?"

"That's what your father and I are discussing, plus you know how stubborn Nana is – I've got to get her warmed up to the idea. A call from her grandson might help persuade her," she said as she kissed his head and smiled.

Edward was shocked to find that his very first thought was about how normal Esme's interaction with him was, considering the situation.

"You're going to have to drive yourself to school – I'm not sure how long I'll be gone. I'll give your debit card and the computer information to your father before I leave, just ask him whenever you need it. You must return those to him as soon as you're done with them. I'm going to have my phone off at the hospital, but I'll check in with you time after time to see if you need anything."

Edward could do nothing but shake his head, feeling dumbfounded by his mother's quickly flowing statements.

**LStE**

The next morning he opened his eyes, feeling oddly rested at the early hour. It took him a few seconds to realize he had woken up on his own, rather than to the blaring of his alarm clock. Looking up, he saw that his alarm clock was blinking some odd time, a sign that the electricity had gone out sometime during his slumber.

"Great," he uttered, slightly irritated. He grabbed his watch from his nightstand and, before he could process it, he softly yelled, "Shit!"

His breath caught in his throat when he realized that he had both – unintentionally, but still – overslept and cursed. He hurriedly rushed around his bedroom, trying to get ready, throwing on a pair of jeans. He searched for his signature button up before giving up and putting on a solid color black t-shirt.

He desperately needed clean clothes, but with his inability to use a washing machine and his mother out of town, it definitely wasn't happening. He completed his hygiene routine in quite the rush before throwing on his backpack. Taking the stairs two at a time, he smelled the burning in the kitchen before he even saw his father.

He chuckled at his father's ignorance in the domestic department.

"I miss your mother already," Carlisle said, pathetically. "Oh, here – your mother

said you'd need this stuff," he added, sliding the debit card and computer passwords across the table.

"I don't need them right now," Edward answered. "She said to just come to you when I need them."

"I'm not going to be here much for the next few days, if at all. I had to pick up a few

extra shifts, so I'll probably just stay at the hospital. Can just take them, I don't want you to not have this stuff when you need it."

"Thanks, Dad."

"Are you trying out a new hairstyle?" Carlisle questioned, pointing to his son's hair in disarray.

"I'm actually running late, my alarm got reset. I guess the electricity went out sometime last night."

"Right, well, I'm going to be heading off to work soon. Have a good day at school, and remember stay focused."

Edward left, feeling a small amount of liberation at not having to answer to anyone. At the same time, he had a nagging sensation of nervousness at his grandmother being ill. He loved visiting with his Nana Platt, she was the polar opposite of his controlled, clear-cut mother.

Edward made it across town with only a few minutes to spare before the class started. He despised being late, having to crawl across other students to make it to his desired seat. He slowly walked down the steps of the lecture hall, allowing his eyes to scan the classroom for his friends. It took a few seconds before he saw a head turn and the familiar face made eye-contact with him. He smiled at her in recognition, walking down to her.

"Sorry, I overslept this morning," he said, feeling it necessary to give her a reason for his lateness.

"I was actually ridiculously early this morning. I like the hair by the way, you're very casual today."

"Uh... thanks."

"Welcome," she simply said. "Ohh.." she went to say, before Professor Banner shushed the class.

Edward looked over at Bella who scrunched down into her seat, hidden by the students in front of her.

"What are you –"

"Your surprise," she responded, pulling out a tote bag, stuffed with containers.

"What is it?" He quietly whispered.

"Lasagna, garlic bread and turtle brownies, all courtesy of Jasper."

Edward looked at her with uncertainty.

"You know Jazz, we ran into him yesterday. He said he was making dinner... he

invited you," she said, attempting to jog his memory.

"I remember him," he said pausing, "I just don't know what to say to this. It's so

nice of him."

"Say you'll have leftover lasagna with me at The Hub."

**LStE**

After the class the pair found themselves sitting at a small table in the student union, just getting ready to eat lunch. Edward's phone interrupted their conversation.

"It's my mom," he said, answering the call.

Esme greeted her son with news that his Nana had broken her leg, on top of her other previous health issues. She was stable, but her body was slowly giving out on her. His mother sounded tired and stressed as she relayed the latest information to him. Nana was moving in with them, and Esme would be gone for roughly two weeks, helping Nana pack and prepare for relocating.

Bella sat across from Edward, trying to no eavesdrop on his private conversation. She fidgeted in her seat, her cell phone suddenly demanding her attention. She scrolled through her messages thinking of some reason to text Alice, so she would be distracted from listening to him.

"Sorry," Edward finally spoke, placing his phone on the table. "My grandmother fell last night, so my mother went to take care of her."

Edward recited the story with all the details, feeling quite comfortable sharing this part of his life with her.

"So you're on your own for the next two weeks?"

"So it seems. I'm already out of laundry, this is going to be one long week."

Bella looked at him with curious eyes. "You don't know how to do laundry?"

"If I said yes, would you know that I'm lying?"

She laughed at his dorky self. He was a breath of fresh air, compared to the thousands of other students she encountered day in and day out, dying for social acceptance.

Rather than fretting in the library over Edward's struggles with independence, Bella decided to take advantage of his time away from Esme.

"It's a nice day out. Instead of being stuck in the library, why don't we go out? I need to do a little shopping this afternoon. I mean, you can pick up some new clothes until you wash yours, too," she joked.

"I was going to put in some extra lab hours for bio..." he began, before Bella began to stare back at him with peer pressure in her eyes.

"It won't hurt you to miss it once," she sang in a melodic voice.

He sat for a few moments, pretending to debate his options, knowing he was going to cave anyway.

She wanted to spend time with him.

"Fiiine," he said, over-exaggerating his words.

"Peer pressure is one of the best/worst things when it comes to friendship," Bella laughed.

Edward ran his hands through his hair, an attempt at masking his embarrassment of her words.

"I really do like the hair, it's very se.. stylish," she spoke, flustered.

"I feel sloppy, I was in a rush this morning."

"A little mousse and you'd have the whole hot, brooding thing down pat."

"Did you just call me hot?"

Bella's cheeks flamed at his words. "What happened to the shy boy from a few weeks ago?"

"You didn't answer my question," he spoke with a shy confidence.

"You didn't answer mine," she replied flirtatiously.

"I'm learning from a great friend," he said, answering her question.

He looked at her timidly, wondering if she would aknowledge his earlier question.

"It's only been a few weeks and you're already making girls blush. You are a very attractive guy," she responded quietly.

"I think you're attractive as well," he said, bowing his head bashfully.

**LStE**

Finally out of school, the afternoon came with Edward accompanying Bella and them wandering in and out of various second-hand stores across town. He had never been in stores like those ever before, so it was a brand new experience. It was amazing for him to see Bella interact outside of school.

Bella noticed him skimming through the racks of clothing, seemingly unsure of his choices.

"Would you like some help?" She asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't even know what to pick out. I don't usually shop for myself."

"You don't pick out your own clothes? Do you just wear whatever?"

"I wear what my mother buys."

"Do you see anything you like? I mean, anything _you_ feel like _you'd_ like to wear, not what _Esme_ would like _you_ to wear."

Going with her advice, Edward picked through the various clothes before settling on a few new outfits and asking Bella for her opinion.

"I think you should get this," she said, holding out a beanie and playfully putting it on his head.

"What about these?" He asked, holding up a pair of sunglasses.

"It's rainy ninety percent of the time... not sure how much use you'll get out of those."

"I'm completing the look," he joked.

"For someone who's never picked out his own clothes, you sure have some style."

He smiled at her, then turned to go pay for his stuff. He pulled his rarely used debit card from his wallet, purchasing the items. It felt odd, but good to do things like these on his own.

**LStE**

Edward and Bella found themselves laughing over dinner later that evening. The familiarity of their interaction felt comforting and alarming as well to both of them. An electric charge filled the air from their simple touches and words. It was a strange feeling that neither had ever felt with another person, but they both refused to voice their concerns.

There was tension in the air between the two young friends that left them both questioning what to do next.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews, I love hearing from you!**

**Any theories about what's next for these two crazy kids?**


End file.
